HURFOM: According to officials from the Mon National Education Committee (MNEC), the Union government has postponed the provision of new textbooks to Mon National Schools. The announcement comes as a shock to members of the MNEC who have come to rely on the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to provide textbooks at the beginning of each academic year. Currently, there is no clear indication of when the textbooks will be released, leaving the MNEC with little option but to purchase the materials from the DBE.

In years past, all
textbooks used in middle schools and high schools administered by the Committee
have been provided by the DBE.

“Every year, the books have been provided by the [Union] government, but
this year, they’ve [DBE] said that they have to postpone giving us the books.
They say that they have to first receive approval from the Ministry of
Education,” said Nai Rot Ka Kao, member of the MNEC.

“All the textbooks we receive are supplied by the government. The
exception is in primary schools where Mon is the language of instruction. But
for middle schools and high schools, we rely on the government for the books we
need. We’ve had their support for years, but this year things have changed, and
we don’t know why. We have received support elsewhere, and some of our teachers
have had the opportunity to train with government schoolteachers. Still, we
don’t understand why the government has instructed the Department of Basic Education
to postpone the release of this year’s textbooks,” continued Nai Rot Ka
Kao.

The foremost concern
among members of the MNEC is that the cost of acquiring the textbooks will
exacerbate the MNEC’s already precarious financial situation.

From the construction
and repair
of school buildings to ensuring that Mon National School teachers are provided a salary,
or that students
have the materials they need to succeed, the MNEC has
repeatedly had to rely on donations raised by the monastic community, and
provided by Mon communities abroad to cover operational costs. The purchase of
textbooks for the upcoming academic year will likely deepen the MNEC’s budgetary
constraints and reduce its ability to absorb any future financial shock.

According
to the MNEC, there are three Mon National High Schools, 16 Mon National Middle
Schools, and 113 Mon National Primary Schools, with a total of 10,779 Mon
students. There are approximately 800 teachers currently employed in the Mon
National School system.

The DBE’s decision to
withhold the textbooks may not only jeopardize the viability of the Mon
National School system, it undermines government efforts to implement the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) by 2021, and by extension, to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.